Voice portals are used to answer calls and obtain information from callers. For example, businesses often use voice portals that include interactive voice response (IVR) computers to interact with callers and to obtain information from the callers. IVR computers also may be used by the business to make outgoing calls to customers and/or potential customers.
The IVR computer may be combined or associated with an automatic call distributor (ACD) or the like, so that under certain conditions of the IVR processing of a call, the call may be transferred to an available agent (e.g., customer service representative) of the enterprise for further interaction with the customer or prospective customer. When the IVR computer receives an inbound call, for example, the customer may wish to speak with an agent. However, an agent may not be immediately available to speak with the customer. In this scenario, the IVR computer places the customer in a holding queue (i.e., place the customer on hold) until an agent becomes available.
These current IVR solutions may not provide positive customer experience. Specifically, when agents are unavailable as described above, customers are placed in a holding queue and may have to wait for a long time before an agent becomes available. This holding technique wastes the customer's time, and reduces the overall customer experience when dealing with the IVR solution of the business.